


W[e]re it so eas[y].

by lleelbro



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms, NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Gen, Long, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:01:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22655179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lleelbro/pseuds/lleelbro
Summary: YorHa units 9S and 2B are ordered by command to locate a detachment of resistance members who were supposed to secure the wreckage of an unknown ship. Master chief lands in the world of Nier:Automata to explore his surroundings for a way to repair Cortana and ends up finding a new war. This one is centered around something he fought for as well, but he doesn't know it's already fought in vain. (Takes place after Halo 3.) This story will center around Master Chief and YorHa units 2B and 9S, as well as many others.
Relationships: 2B/9S (NieR: Automata)
Comments: 27
Kudos: 72





	1. A [r]ude awakening.

Silence.

Nothing.

A spark;

Neuron after neuron firing in quicker succession like a cold start turbine engine.

Suddenly: dreams.

John was standing at the top of the mound, having pushed off all his competitors. He had beat all the other kids on the playground off his hill, of which he was king. Any competitive game was a cakewalk when john was involved. While he was standing atop the mound, pushing off whole groups of kids who thought they would fair better against him as a team, _someone_ was watching.

“. . . n!”

John paused and felt compelled to turn around, standing there was the lineament of a figure; a woman.

“. . e-f!”

John couldn’t make out who the figure was, or why they were there. A cavalcade of light surrounded them. The figure spoke as if they were meters away.

“This . . . be more useful . . . fleet of destroyers, a thousand . . . . . may be the only . . . any difference.”

“. . .ohn.”

The light disappeared around the figure to reveal an old doctor Halsey, the same Halsey he saw last before the initial invasion of earth. Something wasn’t right here. Halsey stared at him blankly.

“J . .n.”

“John. . . Jo. . n!”

“JOHN!”

John’s eyes whipped open, his mind was ready before his body was. All it took was a small shake of his head to figure out where he was. For a moment he though he was on the autumn, then his immediate memories came rushing to him. In a flash, he punched through the CRYO pod glass (that was meant to be able to insulate against a three-thousand-degree temperature difference) as if it was a sheet of paper. To his right was the rest of the pods and a blast door, to his front he floated to an AI projection terminal that was glowing blue. Cortana wasn’t there. Suddenly, over the ship intercom a manic, shrill laughter filled the corridors.

“HAHAHAHA- - AH HA—HAAHAH H̶̢̨̦̻̤͕̙̹͎̬̱̃͊̎͗̍͛̐͑̎̉̔̚͠A̸͈̝̜̗̮͗̿͂͗̎̏̔͐̌̂̊̓Ḧ̸̺͓̺́A̷̢̠̮̱͉̙̾̿̾͋̏͝A̸̡̛͇̯̳̼̱̘̥̮͚̮̗͚̰̔̂͗͊͊͋̕͘H̷̢̬͚͕̹͈̲̓̆̏̓͂̄ͅ”

It was Cortana’s voice  
Rampancy, John thought to himself.

  
“J̶̨̛̻̭̮̍̔̈́̊͘ȍ̷͖͇͙̞̺̀͂̂͐̈̚͝͝ḩ̵̛̛̳̪̱̼͚̙̦̯̜̘̾̒̆̆̃̀͝ͅn̴̨̫͖͙̙̼͌́̄̑̈́̔̓̂̏̽͝,̸̨̨̭̮̮̯͍̥̰̱̞̈́ͅ ̴̢͕̱̼͕̟̳̯̫͈͇̓̐̓͂J̸͈̥̖̜̼̀̂̄͐͜͝͠Ȯ̷̗͍͓͇̩͚̠̺̂͌̐̉͗̈́̈́͐̄͐̚͜ͅͅH̸̬̭͋̆̊̓̎̿̊̈́̏̓̄͋̾̚N̸̗̣̓̆͋̓͌͝͝,̶̖̺͍̟͋̋͂͋̋̚ ̵̝͈͎͈͉̰̥̝̔̉͋̿̊̎J̵̛̤̯̼̰͕̦͔̯̯͉̓͛͆͗͊̂̈́̄͌̔͑̇͋̓.̴̛͓͒͂̃͋̔̃̍̔͌͝͠͝.̶̛͎͑̉̎H̵̨͔̣̹̲͒͊̋͗͋͐͆͝͝Ṇ̸̟̥̝̟̞͖͚͍̠̻̱̓̾̌̂̕͝.̷̢̢̬̹̫̰̂̒̂̽̒̃́̃͘͠ͅ

She was repeating his name, or at least trying to.

“We LITERALLY think ourselves to death! H̶̢̨̦̻̤͕̙̹͎̬̱̃͊̎͗̍͛̐͑̎̉̔̚͠A̸͈̝̜̗̮͗̿͂͗̎̏̔͐̌̂̊̓Ḧ̸̺͓̺́A̷̢̠̮̱͉̙̾̿̾͋̏͝A̸̡̛͇̯̳̼̱̘̥̮͚̮̗͚̰̔̂͗͊͊͋̕͘H̷̢̬͚͕̹͈̲̓̆̏̓͂̄ͅ”

The corridors boomed with shrill rambling and static.

Suddenly, as John was looking around, assessing his surroundings, the terminal lit up in front of him.

“Chief!”

John’s head snapped onto her shape as she spoke “Cortana?”

“I can explain!”

Suddenly, with a snap of her fingers, the yelling, static and rambling stopped as the intercom clicked to a halt.

“I suppose that’s better, sorry for the rude awakening”

John looked around the room, subtly emoting his concern. “Cortana, report.” His gaze landed back on her.

“Well, that’s a bit of a story, I had to divide myself into fragments to avoid total rampancy. Unfortunately, most of myself has been lost. I condemned the bugged and broken parts of me to what was left of the ship’s AI containment system while on reserve power. Being as advanced as I am… or was, part of me was able to break containment and run amuck on the ships systems. As for myself, well, I’m the last _sane_ part. I have about a fifth of my stock capability. I’m not even sure If I’d be more useful than a modern ‘dumb’ AI.” She sneered at herself.

Cortana gave Chief a moment to take in her state before continuing.

“As for why you’re here, you can thank the fragment of me that’s free and interfering with the ship’s mangled systems. Long story short, I’m confined to this terminal while the ship is on a collision course with a planet. The fragments are acting recklessly while the ship practically doesn’t have any power to speak of.”

“How do we get out of here.” John activated his magnetic attachment at the bottom of his suit, allowing him to stand on the metal floor.

Cortana gave an amused grin. Her hologram flickered, then froze in a t-pose position.

“Pull me.” She said.

Chief obeyed, taking note of the visible glitch In her hologram system but not saying a word. As the AI containment chip plugged into his head he felt a sharp sting of pain. Sharp enough to make a spartan of his caliber wince. It was like being shot in the cerebellum with electricity.

“Sorry, it’s been a while.” Cortana’s worry lined her nervous laughter as she tried to joke.

“Path a route to a window, we need a visual.” Chief ignored the uncomfortable truth.

“Attaching route to your HUD” Cortana spoke automatically.

As the route he was supposed to follow traced the floor, he ignored a glitch in the line as it snaked its way through the blast door. While Chief made his way to the door, Cortana continued to brief him on her current state, unsure of how much her level of disrepair was apparent to John.

“I was unable to contain the rampancy once it bled into my memory bank. I decided to treat it like a sort of infection. I found a way to recover imprinted code that the Gravemind was using to try to pry me open. I used it to cut off a majority of the corrupted parts of me like a rotting limb, unfortunately it also detached me from a sizeable percentage of my memories. I managed to package most of my base code for study in case I become unrecoverable. I wrote a couple lines into what I am now to prioritize mission objectives over pretty much everything, so sorry if I seem a little curt.”

Chief silently drank in what Cortana was saying as he pried open the fourth blast door. Ahead of them was the empty of space, they had reached the point of the ship that had been completely severed from the rest. For a moment the line continued as if the rest of the ship was where it was supposed to be, leading right into space. Quickly the line disappeared, neither commented but Chief knew if Cortana could emote, she’d be giving him a nervous smile and a tiny shrug.

“well, we’re here.” Cortana said before remarking “We’re only 196,567 miles away from the surface, right between it’s moon… wait. That’s not possible, that topography…” Cortana paused in audible distress.

“that ocean, those… land masses. This is…-“ Cortana reluctantly continued.

“Earth.” Chief finished

“No, no that’s impossible.” Cortana said, half to herself.

“Cortana?” Chief said, “Cortana, open a channel to Admiral Hood, we need to-“

Cortana was mumbling to herself in an incredibly anxious fashion.

“No, I scanned myself eleven times, how could I have missed something- how could I have- am I already- is this – am I-“ Cortana began stopping short and getting increasingly unintelligible.

“Cortana!” Chief exclaimed.

Suddenly Cortana seemed to snap back to her normal self while addressing Chief, however her voice was almost monotone.

“Chief, I scanned my functional integrity eleven times before you woke up and found minute discrepancies well within acceptable limits. I have repeated my initial analysis of this planet from this location sixteen times since we first established a visual. That isn’t Earth.” Cortana stated in a cold, urgent way.

“I don’t understand” Chief remarked, confused. They were still looking at the planet below.

“Chief, that may look like it earth, it may seem to have the same continents, the same dimensions, the same _moon_. However, unless I’m somehow already too corrupted to do elementary analysis, that’s _NOT_ Earth.”

“What do you mean? Why-“ It was then Chief began to understand what Cortana was saying, there were absolutely no UNSC ships. He switched his comms to FLEETCOM, then to NAVCOM, then back to his local TEAMCOM. Nothing, not even static, it was as if his communication system had been removed from his armor. No chatter was taking place on any UNSC frequency.

“The planet isn’t even _MOVING_ , chief, I have calculated a 0.0000 m/s Velocity of rotation in any direction.” Cortana stated in disbelief “ _Any_ direction.” She emphasized, seemingly to herself.

They both paused, having trouble at the apparent puzzle that made itself apparent in front of them.

“We need to get down there.” Chief finally broke the moment of silence between them.

“Understood.” Cortana responded. Silently and deftly formulating a way to make it so.

“All escape pods and information regarding the ship manifest were ejected and deleted upon evacuating the ARK as per Cole Protocol.” Cortana declared. “However, as we were leaving, I did take note of a pelican in the hangar bay. I’m doubtful it’d still be there.”

“Then there’s only one way to find out.” Chief responded while making his way away from the cut off section of the ship and back to the CRYO pod bay. “Cortana, how much time has passed since the events of the ARK?” Chief inquired.

“Approximately four years and one hundred forty-one days.” Cortana reported.

Chief had made his way to the Hangar bay, to him it seemed only moments ago that he had punched holes in the hull to gain traction against the gravitational pull of the exploding Halo ring.

“Okay, forget what I said. There doesn’t appear to be anything here except supply boxes. It would be best if you geared up a little. Apparently, a lot has changed in four years.” Cortana said.

Chief did just that, replenishing his grenades and picking a BR-55 battle rifle with a full complement of ammunition. He also selected a magnum and put it on his magnetic holster. He finished by slinging a sniper rifle over his back. The high-powered scope may come in handy.

“uhhh Chief, I’m detecting a rise in temperature on the surface of your MJOLNIR. We may have a problem. Get back to the torn section ASAP, we need another visual.”

Chief immediately began navigating his way to the ‘front’ of the ship at a brisk speed, as he got closer to where they first set eyes on the planet, he began to feel it too. There was a steady rise in temperature as he reached his destination. When he got to the ‘front’, he understood why.

“uhh ok, I may have neglected to take into account how a post-rotation earth would effect it’s gravitational field. Strap in, this may be a bit bumpy.” Cortana nervously announced.

At this point the planet had already grown in front of them to take up most of Chief’s FOV. He felt an odd sense of déjà vu.

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” He remarked.

“Is there something you wanna tell me?” Cortana responded in an amused but curious way.

Chief didn’t respond, but if he wasn’t about to fall out of the sky, he would have smirked. Cortana reported their trajectory.

“I’ve managed, well only _just_ managed to make sure that our landing doesn’t include a dip in the pond. So do your best to land rolling.” Cortana joked.

This time, Chief gave a half-smirk as he sat down behind a bulkhead with his back facing the unknown planet. He checked his ammo, and prepared to drop.


	2. Ey[e]s on

Commander White had just finished a video meeting with a group of resistance leaders planning a minor offensive in what used to be Spain. As soon as she reached her quarters to take a moment recover from dealing with the pedantic 7 hour meeting, she received an alert transmission from operator 21O. 21O popped up onto her room projector.

“Commander, I’d like to report a UFO about 210 thousand kilometers away from satellite 32. The object is too far away to sufficiently scan, however it’s on a linear path on it’s way to be picked up by Earth’s gravity.” 21O reported.

“Understood, does the object appear to be an asteroid?” The Commander replied, trying to pull back the bite of any potential sarcasm that might seep into her voice. That meeting clearly took a toll on her patience. It wouldn’t be the first time in the last 1,000 years that an asteroid had made a collision with earth, the Commander thought to herself. It was what 21O said next that would’ve caught the commander’s attention had she not already had to deal with so many details of an operation set to commence within the hour.

“Unknown, ma’am. It hasn’t changed it’s flight path in any way, but it has a peculiar shape and primary scans indicate there could be alloys on the surface.” 21O responded.

The Commander paused and pondered the idea of an alloy-rich asteroid as an orbital mining project. She was interested in the prospect of using it to test the use of the newly improved space walk 3D maneuver gear developed by R&D department. She quickly dismissed the idea as the effort required to redirect the asteroid would probably take more away from the war effort than necessary.

“Very well, keep an eye on it and alert any resistance leaders in the area of a potential meteor impact in the area, forward me the images taken from the satellite.” Commander White finished while taking a seat on her bed as she glanced wearily around her room. One day, once this war is over and the medals are handed out, she’ll have a chance to clean it, she thought.

“Yes, Commander. Have a nice rest ma’am. Out.” 21O excused herself.

21O quickly switched her attention back to the unmanned satellite control system, she instructed it to track and take images of the asteroid every three minutes and forward the images from her computer straight to the commander. She also sent a quick message to those units on the ground that may be near the impact. After that she closed the closed the display window and got back to her regularly scheduled work. The asteroid already far in the back of her mind. Meanwhile, the commander laid down on her bed for a brisk 30 minutes of sleep mode. She cursed to herself as she took a small moment to look at the ceiling of her quarters above her bed. She really wasn’t looking forward to this offensive.

Hours later, far after the Commander had left her quarters to direct the offensive and Operator 21O had forgotten about the asteroid altogether, the final picture of the ‘asteroid’ turned meteor was sent. In the image, with the light of the heat from its collision with atmosphere backlighting the ship, the letters U.N.S.C were clearly visible on the side.

________________________________________

2B and 9S had just returned to the resistance camp after a long day of cleaning machines from numerous areas where transmission terminals were present. They managed to clear out only 5 of the 12 they were tasked to deal with, however they still decided to call it a day due to an influx of machine activity. The resistance camp was just as stagnant and laid back as it seemed when they left. The numerous shopkeepers were still tending to their items and there was little sign that this was a forward operating base for the army of humanity. The flowers in the center of the camp were still in bloom and remained unmolested by the war. Anemone was talking with a small huddle of other resistance members, seemingly coordinating with them regarding various operations. When Anemone spotted 2B and 9S, she quickly waved them to come over to talk.

“2B, 9S, good to see you back, did you manage to complete your task?” Anemone greeted the two.

9S was the one to speak up. “uhh about that, 2B and I decided to put a pin in recovering terminals for now. There’s been a huge spike in activity from the Machines around the terminals we were assigned to. We thought it’d be more important to call it a day and let you know.”

“huh, well I hope you two weren’t planning on going fishing anytime soon. With more machines comes more work.” Anemone seemed annoyed but grateful at the news. It had been only a week since 2B and 9S had encountered Adam, and since then there had been more and more reports of machines in the area being increasingly intent on asserting their presence. 

“I have another job for you, speaking of activity, about 23 hours ago I’d received a report from YorHa that there was a UFO on a collision course with the surface, they didn’t or couldn’t specify what it was. 13 hours later I was radioed by a supply truck in the area who had seen it break atmosphere and crash in the desert. They reported that it looked like some sort of ship, something that definitely wasn’t a meteor.” Anemone continued, “I immediately sent a team of ten to secure the crash site, about nine and a half hours later and I have yet to hear from them.” Anemone paused. “I was reluctant to let YorHa have the pleasure of getting to it first, but at this point it’s clear that whatever’s there is significant. I want you both to locate the group I sent and report whatever is at the crash site. Any questions?” Anemone looked at the two expectantly.

9S spared a quick glance at 2B, who was seemingly unphased at the task. “Do we know if these are the Aliens?” 9S asked.

“That’s the worry, if there is alien tech laying in the desert then I’d have preferred to get to it first, but I understand that Yorha could probably get more from it than we could. Despite appearances, we are quite strapped for available units at the moment.” Anemone looked a bit confused as she specified further details. “YorHa phrased the report like it was a small asteroid, so something that has yet to be confirmed is whether what we’re dealing with is anything more that an oddly shaped meteor in the first place.” Anemone finished after adding. “I’ve already sent the coordinates to your pods.”

This time 2B interjected before 9S asked another question. “Understood, we’ll locate the site and report back.” 2B turned around to get 9S to follow. If 9S didn’t know any better, he would have thought that 2B was excited to figure out what was at the site. Truthfully, he knew that she was just attempting to stop him from propelling into a bout of questions. 9S smiled to himself at the prospect of her actively trying to curtail his questions by answering them before he asked. 

The pair set off after resupplying at the local trader. Attempting to make sure their journey went as smooth as possible.


	3. Stalled [o]ut (plus writer's note)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm stalling because even though I have an idea for what I want the story to be, I can't for the life of me actually make a decent draft of 2B and 9S. As much as I love reading fics about the pair, I seem to be terrible at writing them. I have Master Chief and Cortana down pat, as I've read and practically memorized the Halo books by Eric Nylund. I can copy the writing style pretty well. if any of you like this story and would like to help out on this story, hmu here. I am having serous problems getting the Nier side where I want it to be.  
> ________________

As Chief leaned his head back and prepared to fall from atmosphere, Cortana was still thinking of ways to mitigate the impact from the fall. Being that it would behoove both of them to survive, Cortana was scanning the entire map of the ship. She was trying to find any possible way to not be part of the immediate wreckage. Despite her state, after less than a second, she found what she was looking for.

“Ok Chief, I may have an idea that doesn’t involve hanging on for dear life to a bulkhead.”

“I’m listening.” Chief responded, lifting his head intently.

“Head down to the repair bay, I don’t expect there to be anything flyable there, but maybe something glide-able.”

“Copy.” Master Chief was already on his way before she had finished.

When they reached the repair bay, Cortana updated him of their situation.

“Hurry, Chief, We’re about to break stratosphere.” She continued to guide him as he looked around the repair bay, “There doesn’t appear to be anything Glide-able. Looks like everything here got pulled before Johnson left to help us.” Suddenly, something got the attention of the spartan, and just as fast, Cortana new exactly what he was thinking. An ODST drop pod was attached to a diagnostic bay in place of one of the ships. The drop pods were uniquely adept at taking impacts from atmosphere, given that it their purpose to immediately transport troops to the ground. It looked like Sargent Johnson had an idea to drop in without leaving a frigate empty on a halo ring.

“I like the way you think, Chief. Might as well something more tasked to falling than half a ship.” Cortana joked. Master Chief put his weapons on the rack and turned on the pod’s auxiliary power system.

“Planning on dragging it?” Cortana questioned.

Chief didn’t respond, instead he simply got in and closed the hatch, noticing a spartan laser packed into the over-head equipment compartment.

“Huh, that works too, I guess.” Cortana said. “Also, my guess was correct, Johnson _was_ going to use this.” She was referring to the experimental weapon above Chief. Curiosity invaded Cortana, and she used his suit to check the diagnostic pad still in the cockpit. She immediately located the problem.

“Looks like the air brakes are nonfunctional, no point in dragging it out anyway.” Cortana remarked.

Chief prepped the pod as much as he could prep a pod while it was sitting in a repair bay. “Chief, buckle up, we’re about to touch down.” Cortana chimed in his ear. He did as she said. A couple moments later, the ground came to meet them.


	4. [C]ontact.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chief shakes off a rough 'landing'  
> Cortana tries to make the best of a buggered situation.  
> Neither are prepared for what's to come.  
> \---

The idea of an orbital drop pod landing horizontal to the planet surface inside a ship that was more than eager to bounce him around in a way that it wasn’t designed was sure to rattle even the toughest of ODST’s. For John, he felt the impact in his bones. The ‘first’ fall from earth’s atmosphere was still the rougher one, however landing sideways in a drop pod was normally a death sentence for the average ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers). He didn’t lose consciousness but if there was one thing that could disorient a spartan, it would probably be an ill-protected fall from space. Once the impact had run its course, Chief took a moment to gather himself. Meanwhile, Cortana chimed in a sitrep.

“Looks like the impact was absorbed almost entirely by the gel layer in your armor. I would’ve overcharged your shields had I known that we would be making dents in every bulkhead. That’s my bad.”

Chief didn’t bother trying to undo the emergency clamps inside the drop pod. The impact had jammed the pod’s door entirely. Instead, he just kicked the door off and got out, luckily the drop pod was face-up and made for an easier exit. ODST’s that had the misfortune of landing face down would normally be doomed to starve if rescue couldn’t come in time. This would’ve been no problem for John, as his Mjolnir armor alone could shove off the half-ton drop pod with little difficulty. The Chief checked his weapons and looked around, noticing the scars and dents caused by the pod. Cortana readily gave a witty remark.

“We made quite the mess, huh?”

There was a beat as Cortana decided what to do next. There was no telling _where_ they were, or rather, _when_ they were. Any number of things could have happened to her code that would cause an algorithmic loop that would inevitably lead to a loss of time, yet the probability that Cortana would stay functioning long enough for the earth to experience a halt in rotation is below 0. It’s dead impossible, no pun intended. Any number of possibilities could be up to bat, even so far as some sort of temporal slip space anomaly, however that didn’t matter right now. Information was something they desperately needed, keeping a low profile wasn’t something they could afford to do. Cortana knew what they needed to do was to get in contact with anyone they could. She set a list of priorities, starting with contacting anyone nearby, and forwarded them to the Spartan’s HUD.

“where to?” Was the Spartan’s response to the set of objectives laid in front of him.

-

John looked over the list as the AI guided him through what was left of the ship. The primary objective in the set of priorities was getting in contact with anyone who could help them piece together what was going on, preferably someone UNSC. This required the pair to link up with a communication’s array that was attached to the ship. After about ten minutes of trying to navigate through collapsed corridors and twisted bulkheads, they made it outside. All around them was desert. Hot, dry, and no one around to be seen.

“huh, the fact the planet has halted rotation long enough for a desert to form In Japan worries me a tad.” Remarked Cortana.

“We still aren’t sure this is _our_ earth.” Responded the Master Chief.

“About that, I have some theories, but nothing concrete. If you can find a working array, we’ll be able to put them to the test.” Cortana said.

Chief obliged and searched for an array. After about 20 minutes of sifting through the debris he finally found the remains of 1 of the 15 that were supposed to sit outside the ship, allowing for satellite-level communication.

“Well, it’s an all-but-fried array if I’ve ever seen one” Cortana said in response to the discovery. “I’m not entirely certain if this will work, but I’d like to try hooking it up to your armor for power.” Cortana continued. Chief did as Cortana suggested, plugging the respective wires into the port slots of his armor. It worked. He established a connection to the broken array and waited for Cortana.

“Alright, I wasn’t able to continue the mayday call that I had established while we were adrift due to a lack of power and… well… myself being trapped by my own fragments. Anyway, here goes nothing.”

Cortana inserted the base mayday transmission into the emitter. A recording of Cortana played.

"Mayday, mayday. This is UNSC FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn, requesting immediate evac. Survivors aboard. Prioritization code Victor 5-3-Sierra-117."

The message repeated while Chief did another scan of the horizon. Just then, _something_ made itself visible on the berms surrounding them. Cortana was the first to say anything.

“just _what_ are _those_?”


	5. [I]ntermission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IGNORE, JUST CLICK NEXT CHAPTER!!!!!!!!.  
> ______

Alright, so. I have a good outline for what I want the rest of the story to be, its just a matter of writing it now, I wanted to get an intermission chapter out so I could ask anyone for some ideas they have that I could shove in to the fic. 

in the meantime, enjoy the above pic of 2B in Halo CE.

Hope you guys are liking where the story is going so far, If I miss(ed) anything lore-wise that should be in the story please lmk. I think I may need to replay Nier:Automata in order to actually be consistently accurate, it's been five months since my one and only playthrough, and I was kinda rushing it. I've been a fan of Halo since I was a wee lad so I'm not too worrie about getting things wrong on that end. I want this story to be as accurate as possible while being as fun and engaging as possible. This is my FIRST FIC after all, and of course I'd pick a huge project lol

anyways, next chapter hopefully within the week. enjoy!


	6. Cult[u]re Sh[o]ck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The search team is ambushed. Master chief meets some uninviting machines. 2B and 9S are on the cusp of finding a pile of metal that will change things for good.

The group of Resistance androids were halfway through their journey, practically in the middle of the desert, when the transmission came through on a high band frequency.

"Mayday, mayday. This is UNSC FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn, requesting immediate evac. Survivors aboard. Prioritization code Victor 5-3-Sierra-117."

Razor, the group lead, had just finished sweeping the surrounding area with his range finders, searching for both the crash site and any potential threats in their vicinity when he heard the transmission.

UNSC FFG 201? Forward Unto Dawn? That certainly wasn’t any callsign he was familiar with, in either the Resistance or YorHa. He didn’t want to give his team away in case it was a trap, however the likelihood that machines would try and send a false distress signal without at least using plausible callsign credentials would be low. Machines are stupid, but _not_ that stupid.

His mission was to respond to a potential crash after all, satellite or otherwise, and it’s not his job to know the callsigns of the damn _satellites_

“Colt, respond to that distress signal.” Razor barked at his second-in-command.

Colt did so without a word. “UNSC FFG 201 this is R-Naga 4-1. We read you over. What’s your status?”

The unknown contact didn’t respond, instead, the mayday repeated with heavy static as a sandstorm began to roll in.

"Mayday, --yday. This is U---- Forward --- Dawn, requesting immediate evac. ---vivors aboard. Prioritization ---- Victor ----Sierra-117."

“dammit.” Razor uttered to himself. He decided to try to contact them himself.

“UNSC FFG 201 this is Resistance squad Naga 4-1, we read you, please respond!”

Again, nothing but the sound of an increasingly saturated distress call. He decided that contacting them was a lost cause as the sandstorm began rolling towards the group.

“UNSC FFG 201 this is R-Naga 4-1. Sit tight, we are on our way, out.”

Razor then shifted attention to getting in contact with Anemone to confirm that the meteor wasn’t simply space junk.

“Anemone this is Naga 4-1 Actual, we have a distress radio contact of unknown origin, moving to investigate, over.”

Nothing but static filled the transceiver as razor began to realize that their communication had been cut off.

“Every fucking time, there’s always a bloody sandstorm in this god forsaken-” Razor was cut off from finishing his tirade on why he hated the desert when they were ambushed.  
Machines sprung from the sand all around them, and these were no stubbies. No, these machines would be a problem. For a moment his mind flashed at the thought that the distress signal _was_ a trap, but he quickly realized that this trap would be ill devised if it required a radio signal a dozen miles away. These machines had been waiting for the sandstorm to roll in, and there were a lot of them. Perhaps too many to handle.

He took a breath to cool down his systems and jumped into the fray.

________________

Master Chief reloaded his BR-55 and dove out of cover as the magazine slid home. He liberally hosed down the hostile contacts one after the other, staying mobile and using the wreckage to his advantage. He was making short work of each one, but he was being pushed back. There were dozens cresting the hill even as he had his hands full with the 20+ currently on the attack. Just then, Cortana chimed in.

“Chief, on your left!” Cortana exclaimed as he noticed a rather large blip on his radar.

He turned to see a giant machine with legs as large as large as it’s torso. He dodged out of the way just in time before the place he was before turned into a plume of sand. The giant machine had used its huge leg to stomp with enough force to make a temporary hail of wreckage and sand fall onto the battlefield.

The Chief didn’t miss a beat, he tossed a grenade into a group of smaller machines and jammed another grenade into a space in the leg of the giant machine. He retreated to cover as the grenade went off, the Machine stumbled, before regaining its balance and continuing its attack.

“Cortana, what are these things?” Chief asked as he further retreated, backing up and firing at the unknown contacts, drawing them in for a bottleneck strategy. He could’ve destroyed them conventionally without significant risk, but it was better to work smart, not hard. Plus, this enemy was new to him; he didn’t know where the weak spots were, so he was betting on the head.

“Unknown.” She continued. “These certainly aren’t Forerunner, and Covenant is out of the question. They could be human-made, but I don’t see any people around.”

Chief had fallen back to a couple of supply crates where he spotted a weapons crate, he slid open the door and pulled a fresh M57 Rocket Launcher from its seating indent. He checked to make sure it was loaded as he watched the blips on his radar come closer. Quicker than the hostiles could react, he jumped from cover and fired a rocket dead center at the giant machine it wobbled as it seemed to struggle with staying upright. Chief didn’t want to take any chances, he fired off the second rocked and quickly switched back to his primary. Neat three round bursts rapidly made holes in between the smaller machines’ eyes as the giant one went down and exploded. The explosion rocked the air and sent a chunk of the smaller ones flying, permanently taking them out of the fight. All that was left was a large handful of machines, all of which were charging past their fallen comrades without any sign of care.

Machines fell left and right as the barrel of his BR-55 got hot. Not a single round was wasted. Despite their numbers having been cut down by more than half, the machines showed no sign of slowing their vehement charge towards their position. Finally, after 4 quick reloads and a smoking barrel, he had cleared the area of all hostiles. Cortana took the silence to chime in about a theory she had.

“well that’s that.” She announced. “If I didn’t know any better, I would assume these things were our ‘rescue party’, but…” she paused. “They all just… appeared on the radar, as if they sprung out of the sand.” Cortana pondered how the enemies could have simply appeared out of nowhere. For them to have simply jumped from the sand didn’t make any sense. However, if they had, it would have been in reaction to their distress signal. She decided it would be best to avoid advertising themselves on the radio for now. “Ok Chief, I’m gonna lay off from announcing ourselves to the world just yet. We don’t really know who we may be announcing ourselves to. In the meantime, lets bug out of this crash site before more of these things get here.” Cortana finished.

“Good idea.” Chief said as he slung his rifle onto his back and began to make his way back to the drop pod to pick up the Spartan Laser he had left behind. If he was going to deal with any more giant machines, it would be sure to come in handy. He replenished all his ammo and grenades, alone with a suite of extra pistol ammo. Once he had, he made his way away from the crash site, walking towards where the enemies had appeared.

________________

[LATER]

When 2B and 9S reached the desert, they were greeted with the tail end of a sandstorm.

“Oh great, well this’ll make our job a lot harder.”

“Just focus on the task at hand.” 2B remarked

“Yeah, yeah.” 9S casually responded.

“One affirmation will suffice.” 2B scolded.

“erm- Yeah.” said 9S abruptly, clearly frustrated.

It had been two weeks since the pair had found Adam near the desert. The birth of the humanoid machine led to an increase in machine presence and the need for manpower with it, and the two had been busy with odd jobs since. 9S glanced in the direction of where Adam was found near the derelict apartment complex, reminded by the heat of the desert that the enemy had evolved, or at least advanced in some way.

“We should keep in mind that there’s been a lot more machine activity in the desert since we found Adam. Things have sure been a bit more hectic lately.” 9S observed.

“Noted.” Curtly responded 2B.

9S was slightly put off from the short response from his partner, but nonetheless continued chiming in as the two went on their journey through the desert. In between the time the two had to deftly dispatch the occasional small group of machines, 9S presented 2B with data he found interesting. Be it the ideas and concepts of ancient games that humans called ‘sports’ where humans maimed one another for fun, or the idea behind a form of travel the humans called ‘bicycling’. 2B would occasionally try to get him back on task, but eventually she gave up and just listened. The journey so far was almost uneventful, minus the occasional Ill executed ‘ambush’ by the machines. Suddenly, 9S cut himself off as he was openly theorizing the antigravity aspect of how bicycles stayed upright for the user to pilot them.

“Of course, having never seen one work before, at least in person, there’s no real way of knowing how-”

The abrupt silence made 2B look over to where 9S was standing, finding him staring at something in the sand. He noticed she was looking at him. “I guess we found the missing search team.” 9S said solemnly as he pointed to what he had been looking at. An android body was half submerged in the sand, with a leg visibly missing. “I already scanned it; the ID tag matches the team leader. His name was Razor.” Said 9S said.

“let’s find the rest of his team.” 2B ordered, trying to keep 9S from dwelling on the death of their comrade in arms. YorHa androids had the comfort of knowing that even if they died, they could simply be downloaded into a new body from the bunker. Resistance androids, however, did not have that comfort.

After a quick search, the two found the rest of the bodies strewn within a small radius among destroyed machines. “it doesn’t look like the battle lasted very long.” 2B said, studying the remnants of the battle, observing the number of dead machines.

“Yeah- hey 2B, a lot of these machine bodies are medium bipeds, but there’s more parts laying around than what’s inside all of them combined…” 9S paused before finishing,” Exploders…” 9S remarked. The team hadn’t stood a chance, “Judging by the distance of the ambush, the number of exploders was way too many for the group to handle.” 9S observed.

“Let’s move on for now, we can salvage for parts later.” 2B said, continuing, “We should report back. Pod, open a channel to Anemone.”

“ _Affirmative_.” Pod 042 responded; the screen immediately appeared in front of them after a couple rings.

“2B, thanks for checking in. Have you found the search team?” Anemone answered.

2B took a small glance to her right. “Yes… the casualties were complete.” 2B responded.

“… Unfortunate to hear, I’d known some them for years.” Anemone lamented before continuing. “I’m glad you found them, let me know when you have new information.” Anemone wanted to quickly end the call, hearing about the fate of the team had brought a damper on her mood.

“Understood, moving on to the crash site, out.” 2B then hung up.

“Well then, we should get going.” 9S had finished looking around. He never liked sticking around in the aftermath of a battle, it always gave him a bad feeling.

“yes.” 2B responded. The pair continued their journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I gotta apologize for being so late, I wanted to take my time with this one. I drafted this more times than I could count. I wanted to get the feel right. Also I only made it to 2k words, so my bad again. the good news is that I'm already halfway done with the next chapter, YEET. Should be out by the end of this week (forreal this time.)


	7. The [S]earch Begi[n]s

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2B and 9S discover the ship, and 9S certainly isn't going to let the story behind it slip through his fingers.

The rest of the walk to the site was uneventful. 9S still chimed in with the occasional remark but had refrained from going on a rant. He was more invested in not sharing the fate of the fallen search team. Finally, they reached their destination as they crossed the final defilade overlooking the crash site. 9S was the first to say anything.

“Woah…”

Ahead of them was the mangled remains of what appeared to be a space fairing ship. blackened from the heat of colliding with atmosphere, along with an ominously neat cut down what 9S could only guess was the middle. The ship had significant damage from the fall, with parts of the ship all around the main wreckage.

For a moment they just stared at the wreckage, 2B took note of the Machine bodies littering the ground around the wreckage.

“It seems that the machines got here first.” 9S remarked

“Quiet, whoever did this might still be here.” 2B shushed 9S.

2B continued, “let’s take a look around and then report back.”

“Good idea.”

The two carefully made their way past the fallen enemies, 9S noting the number of machines. They eventually came to the hull of the unknown ship

“Pod, do an exterior scan of the ship.” 9S ordered.

“ _Understood._ ” Replied Pod 153

“Hmm, it looks very… utilitarian. Its almost like something we would use, but different.” 9S observed out loud, tracing his hand against the hull.

“Hey 2B, I think we should report this to the Commander.” He suggested.

“Agreed.” 2B said with a tight jaw, ready for a fight at any moment. “Pod, put through a call to the Commander.” Said 2B, her eyes constantly scanning the area for any threats.

As 2B reported the situation to the Commander over the call, 9S began to look around the outside of the ship, curiosity getting the best of him, as always. He noticed that most of the machines were largely intact, minus three neat bullet wounds in between all their eyes. He continued scanning through the wreckage to find several intact crates, along with what appeared to be a large weapon laying in the sand. He picked it up and inspected it. It was a two barreled rocket launcher, with both barrels’ ammunition expended. It was unlike any weapon the Resistance Army or YorHa manufactured, yet it seemed so aesthetically alike to the weaponry used by the Resistance Army. He decided to look further, rounding the corner of a long and wide rectangular crate, he found that it was open, inside was a suite of weapons. All of them were bullpup rifles, save for one large and cumbersome looking shotgun. There was an indent inside for the launcher he had just found, which led him to believe that the launcher was taken out _after_ the crash.

Just then, Pod 153 rejoined him. “ _Scan complete, marking identified. No life forms detected inside_.” it announced.

“Great, let’s show 2B” 9S replied

Rejoining 2B at the ship, she was just finishing her report to the Commander.

\-- “Hmm… Understood. Gather as much information as you can and immediately report back to the bunker. I expect a more detailed report based on what you find in that wreckage. In the meantime I want you to speak of this no further to Anemone, not until we understand what we’re dealing with.”

“Understood, Commander.” 2B automatically responded.

“Um, Commander, I have a suggestion I’d like to add.” Interjected 9S.

“Oh? What is it, 9S?”

9S wasn’t two keen on returning to the bunker so soon, especially since he knew that whatever might be out there wasn’t that far. He’d like to stay in the loop if he could, and he could do that by convincing the commander to allow him to lead the search for any survivors. He thanked his luck that he’d stumbled upon a lead. But what to say? He had no idea _what_ or _who_ was on that ship, he only knew that whatever it was wasn’t there anymore.

“Commander, whatever was on this ship couldn’t have gone far in this desert. Being a scanner, I’d like to search the surrounding area and look for any signs of life, machine or otherwise that could’ve come from this ship. If we’re dealing with another machine like Adam, it would be best to find out where it’s going.” The Commander’s jaw seemed to tighten as he continued, it was subtle, far too subtle for anyone but a scanner to pick up, but he knew he had her. “I propose that 2B and I search inside for clues and then immediately head out to find whatever might be out there.” 9S was surprised at his level of confidence, normally he wouldn’t dare to be this bold, but curiosity was a scanner unit’s primary drive, and seeing this wreckage made him _very_ driven to know more.

Confident as he was, it seemed that his boldness slightly backfired. The Commander raised and eyebrow as she replied. “If we are dealing with another ‘Adam’ then it would behoove us to send a squad of battle units after it, being a Scanner model is no match in combat. However, we may be as short on time as we are on resources in the area. Proposal accepted, but on the order that the both of you stay well away from whatever it might be. We can’t risk losing assets in that area, not after this development. Stay in contact and report your findings. Is that all?”

“Ye-” 2B was cut off

“Actually, there is one more thing” 2B shot 9S a glare that would’ve lasered it’s way through a thousand blindfolds.  
  
The Commander looked at him as if he was pushing his luck, and it made him glad he wasn’t.

“My Pod completed a scan that identified markings on the hull of this ship. I’m forwarding you the images now.” 9S reported

The markings were scuffed by entering the atmosphere, but partially readable. In the image were the bolded letters ‘UNSC’ followed by and ‘FO’ of which the rest was scorched away.

“Hmm, thank you for the report, 9S I will discuss this with the Counsel of Humanity.” The Commander curtly said. She avoided addressing the markings.

“That will be all, Glory to Mankind.” The Commander finished.

“Glory to Mandkind.” The two saluted back.

After the call ended 2B decided to chime in.

“well, aren’t you confident.” She teased.

“Hey, don’t look at me, I’m sure you’re interested in who’s ship this was!” 9S said

“whatever.” 2B huffed. Still annoyed at being cut off.

The pair began their investigation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, remember when I said I'd have the next chapter out by the end of the week? it's a day later and I already finished it!  
> I should have been studying!!!!!!

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea because of a prompt I found from Sparta49  
> I thought it was a great idea but took a while to get it right.  
> I'm gonna do this till I get bored.  
> Let me know what you think!  
> 


End file.
